AT A GLANCE
How do you properly release a hedgehog?
To successfully release a hedgehog, choose the right time, get the animal used to the outside temperatures and stop feeding. Outdoor accommodation allows the hedgehog to return to freedom independently.
release
If the boulder has spent the cold season in the apartment, use a box or the sleeping house to release it. For the first two weeks, place his home in a cool, sheltered spot in the basement, garage, or garden house.(€359.00 at Amazon*) This allows the body to get used to the temperatures outdoors. Place the accommodation in the garden and offer cat food for the first 14 days. Remove the house after your charge escapes.
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Watch the right time:
- release overwintered animals in spring
- It is possible to release strong and strengthened animals before the onset of winter
- Release takes place in the late evening hours
For outdoor accommodation
If the hedgehog was housed in an outdoor enclosure, open it. So the animal can decide for itself when it wants to find its way back to freedom. Offer him food for another two weeks so he has emergency food to fall back on. To prevent a habituation effect, you should then no longer provide food.
Correct feeding
Hedgehogs should not be accustomed to humans. Therefore, they have to experience that the food source is not constantly available. Even if it is not easy, abrupt withdrawal of food is better for the animal. Provided it has recovered sufficiently and is strong enough.
total deprivation
An even reduction in food, especially just before the onset of winter, would result in the prickly predators appearing again and again in the garden and not in the hibernation go. If you confront him with a total withdrawal instead, he has to suddenly adapt to the conditions in nature and follow the natural rhythm.
With this measure, orientate yourself on the outside temperatures, because these play an important role for the mammals. As soon as the thermometer suddenly drops into the single digits, stop feeding.
